Supreme Court forms task force to check suicides of students on campuses

The Supreme Court on Monday formed a task force to strengthen the mechanism for the protection of students on campuses after taking note of the increasing suicides in educational institutions. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan referred to deaths of students in college hostels due to sexual harassment, ragging, caste discrimination, etc over the last two months and said they were not isolated incidents. are not isolated incidents.” The court ordered the formation of the task force under former Supreme Court judge S Ravindra Bhat to submit a report in four months identifying the causes of student suicides and proposing steps to strengthen mechanisms for checking them. It said the committee would also include secretaries of the departments of higher education, social justice, women and child development, and legal affairs.